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Aether
, Heavens |name=Éther (FRE) Etere (ITA) |firstseen = Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance |effect = Extra attack, Sol plus Luna }} Aether is a skill that debuted in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance. Overview Aether is a mastery skill learned by Ike in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, and by Great Lords in Fire Emblem Awakening ''and Fire Emblem Fates. Throughout its existence, it has consistently been a combination of three skills: Adept, Sol, and Luna. Canon Appearances Path of Radiance The Aether skill first appeared in ''Path of Radiance. This skill can be taught to Ike immediately after his promotion at the end of Chapter 17, where he has to use an Occult Scroll. This skill will take up 20 skill points. The skill is described as having two powerful attacks in this game, comprising of the Adept, Sol and Luna mastery skills. This means that the first strike following the skill's activation will restore HP equal to the damage done to the enemy, followed by the enemy's Defense being halved. This is considered to be one of the best Mastery Skills in the game, owing to its unique functions and relatively high activation rate. A rather helpful glitch can occur if the first hit of Aether finishes the enemy. The second hit will still show but it will restore HP by the same amount healed by the first hit, while dealing no additional damage. This doesn't seem to occur when animations for Ike are turned off. Aether's activation rate is equal to Ike's actual skill stat. As Ike is capable of maxing his Skill stat of 27 with relative ease, he will thus have increased chances of activating Aether during battle. ''Radiant Dawn Aether reappears in ''Radiant Dawn, and is once more Ike's Mastery Skill. However, in this case, Ike will automatically obtain the Aether skill upon promotion to the Vanguard class. This is similar to the other characters in the game, where they automatically receive their Mastery skills upon reaching their respective third-tier classes. Much like its predecessor, Aether combines the effects of the Sol and Luna skills, but its activation rate is halved in this game. This is not necessarily dismal, as Ike will have a 20% chance of activating it with maxed skill. As all Mastery Skills have received significant upgrades in Radiant Dawn, Aether will deal increased damage upon striking the enemy. If the first hit of Aether finishes the enemy, Ike will not continue the animation with a second hit, thus preventing the double-healing glitch in Path of Radiance from occuring. Aether's usability in this game is limited, however, as the final few bosses, including the Black Knight, Deghinsea, Sephiran, and Ashera, possess the Nihil skill, effectively negating Ike's chances of activating it in battle. ''Awakening Chrom and Lucina will learn this skill as a level 5 Great Lord. Lucina and her sisters will always inherit this skill from Chrom, even if he has not learned the skill or has the skill equipped when they are recruited. Female Morgan will always inherit this skill from Lucina if she is her mother. If a Chrom fathered Kjelle or Cynthia is Morgan's mother, they must have the skill equipped in the last slot of their equipped skills before the start of Paralogue 12 in order for her to inherit it. Aether retains its combination of the Sol and Luna skills in their ''Awakening version and the activation rate is determined by (Skill/2)%. SpotPass and DLC Ike also starts off with this skill, and Tiki also possesses the skill only when fought in the Tiki's Wyverns Double Duel. Noncanon Appearances ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl In ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Aether is used by Ike as his Up Special, effectively his stage recovery move. It resembles the Sol hit of the actual Aether attack. Ike throws Ragnell into the air followed by a somersault slash then finishing by driving his blade into the platform below. It is a somewhat effective recovery move due to the high length he moves vertically during this move. However, it has very little horizontal range in movement midair. Also, the ending downward slam can prove problematic if he is not close enough to a ledge or the stage, which can lead to a suicide K.O. Ike's final smash, Great Aether, is a more powerful version of his in-game Aether move. Ike must connect with an enemy within one to about two character lengths away from him with the initial blow of this move. Ike can connect with multiple enemies with the initial hit. If the move connects, Ike will launch all enemies he hit into the air and Ragnell ignites with red fire. Ike performs a series of kicks and slashes before performing the standard Aether flip-slashes. After, Ike will then drive the enemies into the ground, resulting in a large explosion. Any enemy caught in the explosion will be launched vertically in a slightly diagonal trajectory. This move deals roughly 64%-74% damage to any enemies caught by this move, but only 12% from anyone hit only by the ending explosion. Both versions of Aether in Brawl do not retain the healing effect of the initial strike. ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U In ''Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Ike still uses Aether as his Up Special move and is functionally the same as it was in Brawl. Like other characters, his Aether has gained two variations: *'Aether Dive:' Ike throws Ragnell at a diagonal trajectory then leaps and catches it before doing the same front flip and blade slam moves as the base form. He will land approximately three character lengths in front of where he executed the move. The blade throw portion and front flips have more knockback. *'Aether Wave:' Ike's Aether activates faster. When Ike slams onto the ground, he creates a small shockwave similar to Kirby's Final Cutter. This may have been inspired by the shockwave projectile that Ike creates when using Ragnell at a faraway distance in Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance ''and ''Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Great Aether is once again Ike's Final Smash. It retains the same properties it had in Brawl, however his flames have been updated to a blue color. ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate In ''Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Aether is the Ike's Up Special move, with Chrom having a similar Up Special move and a Final Smash based on Awakening's version of Aether. Ike's usage of Aether is virtually the same as it was in Smash 4, both visually and in property. His final smash remains Great Aether and retains the Smash 4 blue flame animations. Chrom, despite utilizing Roy's moveset, uses a move dubbed Soaring Slash as his recovery move that is functionally similar to Ike's Aether. Unlike Ike's Aether recovery animation, Chrom does an overhead slash launching the opponent up and follows up with a spin slash down instead of throwing his sword up, trapping the opponent and catching it like Ike. Chrom's Final Smash is called Awakening Aether. It animates similarly to the attack animation of Aether in Awakening. Chrom first dashes forward and does an upward sword strike, stunning any enemies it hits. If it connects, Chrom jumps backward and dashes forward again, this time striking through his opponents. Stats ''Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Fire Emblem Awakening Fire Emblem Fates ''Fire Emblem Heroes |-|Normal= |-|Radiant= Etymology In Greek mythology, 'Aether' refers to the pure, pristine air which the gods breathe, at a higher level than earthly air ('aer'). Aether is personified as one of the earliest primordial Greek gods. Trivia *In the GBA games, whenever a Mercenary/Hero performs a critical hit, he will throw his weapon skyward, catch it, and perform a downward slice, similar to the Sol part of Aether; however, the second strike is omitted. *In Path of Radiance via hacking, Greil's variation of Aether is different - it will do full animation for just one blow, before doing it again with Luna activation flash for the second blow. Its animation is also different compared to Ike's, especially if Greil is armed with an axe. Finally, Greil can activate Aether at range. *In Path of Radiance, Aether can activate at 2-range when attacking a breakable Door with Ragnell or the Sonic Sword. This makes the game repeat Aether's animation for about 10 times before considering the door broken and opening it without any damage actually being dealt. *Aether shares the same italian name with the tome Aureola from The Binding Blade ''and ''The Blazing Sword. ''Both are named "''Etere". Gallery File:FE10 Aether.png|Ike activating Aether in Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn